World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology

International Journal of Environmental, Chemical, Ecological, Geological and Geophysical Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014

Comparison of Stationary and Two-Axis Tracking

System of 50MW Photovoltaic Power Plant in
Al-Kufra, Libya: Landscape Impact and Performance
Yasser Aldali

amorphous silicon in the one structure) type PV module has

AbstractThe scope of this paper is to evaluate and compare the been selected and modelled.
potential of LS-PV(Large Scale Photovoltaic Power Plant) power In this paper the comparison has been carried out between
generation systems in the southern region of Libya at Al-Kufra for stationary and tracking (two axis) PV plant with respect to
both stationary and tracking systems. A Microsoft Excel-VBA
landscape impact and performance.
program has been developed to compute slope radiation, dew-point,
sky temperature, and then cell temperature, maximum power output
International Science Index, Energy and Power Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998977

and module efficiency of the system for stationary system and for II. DESIGN SYSTEM FOR TWO AXIS TRACKING SYSTEM
tracking system. The results for energy production show that the total The most commonly used system in sun tracking systems is
energy output is 114GWh/year for stationary system and
controlling the motor which moves the panel by evaluating the
148GWh/year for tracking system. The average module efficiency for
the stationary system is 16.6% and 16.2% for the tracking system. signals received from photo sensors.
The values of electricity generation capacity factor (CF) and solar This section discusses the system which employs full two-
capacity factor (SCF) for stationary system were found to be 26% axis tracking, ensuring that the PV modules always face
and 62.5% respectively and 34% and 82% for tracking system. The directly towards the suns position in the sky. An HIT type PV
GCR (Ground Cover Ratio) for a stationary system is 0.7, which module from Sanyo rated at 200W has been selected and
corresponds to a tilt angle of 24. The GCR for tracking system was
modeled. The selected module specifications are summarized
found to be 0.12. The estimated ground area needed to build a 50MW
PV plant amounts to approx. 0.55km2 for a stationary PV field in Table I.
constituted by HIT PV arrays and approx. 91MW/ km2. In case of a
TABLE I
tracker PV field, the required ground area amounts approx.2.4km2
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE PV MODULE [3]
and approx. 20.5MW/ km2.
Electrical specification
KeywordsLarge PV power plant, solar energy, environmental Model HIT Power 200
impact, Dual-axis tracking system, stationary system. Rated Power (Pmax)1 200 W
Maximum Power Voltage (Vpm) 55.8 V
I. INTRODUCTION Maximum Power Current (Ipm) 3.59 A
Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) 68.7 V

L ARGE scale use of solar energy for electricity production

is currently in the demonstration phase. Lessons learnt
from the pilot projects will benefit the implementation of
Short Circuit Current (Isc)
Temperature Coefficient (Pmax)
68.7 V
-0.29% / C
Temperature Coefficient (Voc) -0.172 V / C
future power plants. Since the large scale PV (LS-PV) power Temperature Coefficient (Isc) 0.88 mA / C
plant concept is relatively new, so these different technologies Cell Efficiency 19.7%
(stationary and tracking system) are to date competing with no Module Efficiency 17.2%
clear winners, even if most of the biggest PV plants (i.e. Mechanical specification
within the range of 40-70 MWp) have been realized as Module Area 1.16m2
stationary systems. The scope of this paper is to examine and Weight 15kg
evaluate the potential of LS-PV power generation systems in Dimensions LxWxH 1319x880x46mm
the southern region of Libya at Al-Kufra for both stationary Operating conditions
Ambient Operating Temperature -20C to 46C
and tracking systems.
NOCT 46.9C
Aldali et al [1], [2] has been described the design of a
STC: Cell Temp. 25oC, AM1.5,
50MW PV power plant (stationary and tracking) which has 1
1000W/m2
been modelled on the conditions pertaining to Al-Kufra. The
general energy situation within Libya is described, along with Aldali et al. [1], [2] has been developed and presented a
the solar conditions at the proposed location of the power model to compute dew-point, slope radiation, sky and cell
plant. An HIT (hetero-junction with intrinsic thin layer temperature, module efficiency and maximum power for
technology which combines both mono crystalline and operation of the PV modules for stationary PV system and
slope radiation sky and dew-point, cell temperature, module
Yasser Aldali is with the Omar Al Mokhtar University, Faculty of efficiency and maximum power for operation of the PV
Engineering, Derna (e-mail: y.aldali@napier.ac.uk).

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(8) 2014 558 scholar.waset.org/1999.6/9998977
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Environmental, Chemical, Ecological, Geological and Geophysical Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014

modules for two-axis tracking system. Furthermore, the model TABLE II

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE DEGERTRAKER 6000NT-DUAL-AXIS [4]
calculates the current, voltage and fill factor for both
Module area up to 53m
stationary and two-axis tracking system. The model is
360 with adjustable limit
designed to compute results for ten hours each day for a period Rotation angle east west
switches
of one year. Elevation 15-90
A detailed flow chart of the model for two-axis tracking Control unit DEGERconecter
system is shown in Fig. 1. The model of the PV module was Operating voltage 80 265 VAC / 80 380 VDC
implemented using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), drive integrated in the rotating
East west drive
head
which also made use of the processing features of Microsoft Elevation drive 1,100 mm stroke path
Excel [2]. Internal power consumption:
The DegerTraker 6000NT module has been selected as the Control mode 1 Watt
sun-tracker system. DegerEnergy Company designed and With operating drives approx. 7 Watts
constructed a programmable sun-tracker. Table II shows the Power consumption per year. approx. 9 kWh
specification of the DegerTraker 6000NT-Dual-axis [4]. Mast height 4 m 5,5 m
The proposed of solar tracking system for the 50MW Load capacity 130 300 km/h
photovoltaic power plant would be divided into 50 sub- Weight (excluding mast) 1,000 kg
stations of 1MW each and each 1MW substation would be Art.no. 1600001
divided into 125 solar trackers each rated at 8kW. Each
International Science Index, Energy and Power Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998977

TABLE III
substation would feed the generated electricity to the 11kV
SPECIFICATIONS OF PROPOSED DC/AC INVERTER [5]
grid through a 1000kVA transformer and each 8kW PV Rated power (kVA) 200
channel has been equipped with a grid-connected inverter to Maximum power (kVA) 245
convert the DC power from the PV into three - phase AC Rated input DC voltage (V) 640
power for the primary of the 1000kVA transformer. The Maximum input DC voltage (V) 800
output from the 50MW station connects to the national grid Rated input DC current (A) 400
(220kV) through a 50MVA transformer. Each 1MW AC output Three-phase 415V10%
substation therefore consists of 5000 modules. The Output frequency 50Hz
specification of the proposed inverter is shown in Table III. Efficiency 10%load:90%
50%:load96%
100%load:96%
Size (mm) 2000x2100x800
Weight 1400kg

The system was designed to optimize performance for the

annual energy output (i.e., modules facing due south) and to
maximize reliability. For example, in designing the 1MW
system it was determined that 125 x 8kW arrays would
increase the reliability of the system. If anyone array should
fail, the system would still be operating at 90% capacity.
A. Field Requirements
It is important that the PV modules do not shade each other.
On the other hand, for sun tracking systems (Two-axis), the
situation is more complex because the modules also move. In
order to ensure that the solar trackers do not shade each other,
hexagonal structures have been used in this study [6]. Fig. 2
shows the field design for the proposed 50MW power station
(Two-axis) and configuration of the PV array; each array
consists of 40 PV modules.
The total area occupied by the solar tracking system power
plant is 2.44km2 and the total module area is 290,180 m2.

Fig. 1 Flow chart for the computer model for two-axis tracking
system [2]

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(8) 2014 559 scholar.waset.org/1999.6/9998977
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Environmental, Chemical, Ecological, Geological and Geophysical Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014

B. Performance
The expected performance of a 50MW PV plant, located in
Al-Kufra, Southern-East Libya, is shown in the Table IV; the
tracker PV system produces approximately 30% more energy
per annum than a stationary PV system, with the same
nominal installed power. Furthermore, the cost of a PV
tracking system is greater than the cost of stationary PV
system.
TABLE IV
PV POWER PLANTS PERFORMANCE TABLE
Stationary PV Tracker PV
System system
Total slope radiation GWh/m2/year 592 767
Solar field total surface m2 290,500 290,500
Total Plant area km2 0.55 2.4
Installed PV peak power MW 50 50
Total energy output GWh/year 114 148
Fig. 2 Schematic of hexagonal field layout of 50MW PV power plant Capacity factor % 26 34
International Science Index, Energy and Power Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998977

(for two-axis tracking system) [2] Solar capacity factor % 62.5 82

B. Capacity Factor and Solar Capacity Factor Reducing CO2 emissions, kT 76 96

The capacity factor for sun tracking system (two-axis) was

found to be 34% and the solar capacity factor SCF was 81%. Fig. 3 shows the monthly production of energy of the
stationary and tracking plant. The result was a 30% higher
III. COMPARISON OF STATIONARY AND TRACKING SYSTEMS production of energy in the tracking plant. This increase in
energy production, although significant, is not enough to
In the current section, the comparison between the
compensate the other disadvantages of plants with trackers:
stationary and tracking systems has been performed on the
basis of the following main design principles: Increase in cost due to trackers. Trackers are expensive,
and their price is not expected to be reduced.
50MW size, reasonably assumed as reference size for
both technologies. Increased Operation and Maintenance cost due to
trackers. While static device plants are very easy to
HIT PV module technology for both stationary without
maintain, the trackers need more maintenance work since
water cooling and tracking systems.
they are a moving system.
Location: southern Libya in Al-Kufra.
Risk of durability of the tracker system. It is very difficult
The main factors used for comparison have been:
to be sure that the tracking system will work during the
Landscape impact
whole life of the plant.
Performance High risk of incident related to strong winds. High speed
A. Landscape Impact winds can cause serious problems to the trackers that
The key factor in designing the PV plant is to gain, for any mean losses of production and cost in reparations.
specific site, the optimal ground cover ratio (GCR) without
valuable reduction of expected performance ratio. The GCR is
defined as the ratio of the PV array area to the total ground
area [7].The GCR for a stationary system installation localized
in Libya, Al-Kufra, is 0.7, which corresponds to a tilt angle of
24. The GCR for tracking system was found to be 0.12.
The estimated ground area needed to build a 50MW PV
plant amounts to approx. 0.55km2 for a stationary PV field
constituted by HIT PV arrays and approx. 91MW/ km2. In
case of a tracker PV field, the required ground area amounts
approx.2.4km2 and approx. 20.5MW/ km2.
It can be observed, in terms of land impact, that a stationary
PV field requires about quarter of the area necessary for a
tracker PV system and the selection of PV modules may play Fig. 3 Monthly total energy output for both stationary and tracking
an important role in determining the area required by the plant. systems
Therefore it can be concluded that for LS-PV plant, the
stationary PV field arrangement should be preferable when IV. CONCLUSION
compared in terms of land impact.
This paper presented an extended analysis for comparison a

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(8) 2014 560 scholar.waset.org/1999.6/9998977
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Environmental, Chemical, Ecological, Geological and Geophysical Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014

50MW PV-grid connected (stationary and tracking) power

plant in Al-Kufra, Libya. The HIT solar PV module from
Sanyo, rated at 200W, has been used in this study due to its
high efficiency.
Long-term meteorological parameters for Al-Kufra region
have been collected from Renewable Energy Authority of
Libya (REAOL) and the results confirm that Al-Kufra has
high levels of annual solar radiation. The collected
meteorological parameters were: long-term average daily
global radiation, average daily sunshine hours, long-term
hourly ambient temperature and average daily wind speed.
The results for energy production show that the total energy
output is 114GWh/year for stationary system and
148GWh/year for tracking system. The average module
efficiency for the stationary system is 16.6% and 16.2% for
the tracking system.
The values of electricity generation capacity factor (CF) and
solar capacity factor (SCF) for stationary system were found
International Science Index, Energy and Power Engineering Vol:8, No:8, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998977

to be 26% and 62.5% respectively and 34% and 82% for

tracking system.
Therefore it can be concluded that for LS-PV plant, the
stationary PV field arrangement is preferable when compared
in terms of land impact and the disadvantages of plants with
trackers.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank Omar Al Mokhtar University and
the Libyan Government for their support of this work.

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[2] Aldali Y, F.Ahwide. Evaluation of a 50MW Two-axis Tracking
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and Environmental Impact Analysis. International Conference on
Environmental, Energy and Waste Management, UAE, 2013.
[3] Sanyo.[cited; Available from: http://www.sunwize.com/info_center/pdf/
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[4] Stromsta K-E. Masdar connects 10MW solar farm to UAE's power
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International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(8) 2014 561 scholar.waset.org/1999.6/9998977